wahahaha

we win~~~!!!!!

Home Life

Just pic

Random Thoughts at 6am

We watched Julie and Julia on the way back from China on airplane.  It really inspired me and my hubby.

There was a line where Julie said I can blog, I have thoughts. That is exactly how my hubby felt so he is going to start doing voice blogging and improve their GAP podcast.

As for me I wanted the Julia Child cook book and try some of the receipts but they were out of stock at the bookstore. You know I haven’t been trying to find a specific book at the bookstore for so long that when I did it was an annoying process. Amazon is so much easier: you don’t have to remember the author name, you don’t have to know which category the book is under (like I though , you don’t have to try to read row of book titles and try to find tiny printed author names.  So I am convinced the way we purchase books at the bookstore is obsolete; however bookstores are really seller of environment, the environment of the smell of coffee mixed with shelves of book around you that make you feel educated, or homey or something.

Now with the layoff happening the Julie and Julia movie inspired me a little to set goals. Don’t get me wrong I always had goals, but as time passes sometimes you just loose track of your important goals like what you going to do with your life, or ignore the little ones like clean your room or organize your makeup stash.

I think I was too comfortable where I was, in our lovely apartment, the life arrangement, the daily tasks, the amount of time I spend on huaren or reading romance novels or watch ppstream.

When I was a student, the biggest thing I worry is where to find a job in a market that don’t have foreign internationals.  I cannot describe the jealousy and the downess when my classmates have tons of opportunities and I had only a couple. How naively I thought finding a job will be the biggest challenge of my life! When I have a job I’ll have income and don’t have to live off of anyone, when I have a job I can get married without worrying people accusing me marrying just for greencard, when I have a job everything will be fine and it’s going to be happily ever after.

But no, with job comes other headaches and worries like how to develop your career and where do you see yourself in the next 5 years; with life comes other responsibilities and plans like when to have children, when to purchase a house.

Life is not simple, and I am growing up.

Random Thoughts at 3am

I know it’s 6am right now and will probably be 8am when I post this, but I did woke up at 3am and had bunch of thoughts.

The reason I’ve been slacking from blogging about my China trip and some of the goodies purchased at duty-free shop is because of my layoff.

There, I said it, not on face book or my msn blog where my friends can see but on the anonymous internet. Why is it easier and feels more honest when I am writing for … no one? In a place where no one knows my true identity?

Granted I was a bit crashed at first, especially with my heads all congested and my glasses were giving me the usual lack-of-confidence. I even cried a little when I told our business unit secretary right afterwards. But now when I am getting so much less congestion and coughing, and lots of talks with my family and close friends, and after much thinking -  I don’t feel so bad.

Thinking the ways the systems (and business units) are consolidating, the near future prospects in the manufacturing industry, especially how my business unit is doing - the decision is logical.

And frankly it is a good decision for me as well to get out of this little town, move to a less manufacturing focus city, so the jobs are less affected by the economy, so we are closer to the gaming community. 

It is strange though, how I sort of felt it coming. I have really good “woman’s sense”. I mean really, my 6th sense is amazing, I usually detect emotions before people even realize they have it.  It was slightly strange the way my boss acted before my China trip, but then I was too happy to go back home to care.  It was slightly strange the way my boss acted after I came back, then I was sick to the “head” but still tried really hard to do my home even when my head is numb every 5 min.

And it was rather annoying the timing that it happened: I just got back from a three week vacation, I brought back candies and souvenirs and fake Coach bags for them, I was super sick yet worked 10 hour days to make sure month-end was done right ( and it was considering all the transfers that were going on, hell yeah). 

… that’s it for now, I had more thoughts but they are gone.

Back

Finally back to my home sweet home~~~

I came back with a cough, a week long allegy, 581 google reader items, tons of laundry, and not enough shopping.

Hopefully the there isn't too much to catch up on with work, I wasn't able to check my emails at all, and I can start blogging about my trip.

Random Thoughts: Blogs & New Fed Guideline

 

There were some new guidelines from the Fed to bloggers that any blogger who write commercial posts needs to clearly state so, especially if he/she got paid to write. 

 

Thinking back, I started reading both English and Chinese blogs around the same time.  For English blogs I started with Kathi of Lotus Palace and worked my way through her subscriptions discovering my current Blogger subscription as listed below. For Chinese blogs I started with Wretch -  a Taiwanese blog service that was one of the earlier well-known blog services. 

 

I remembered 西喜 who used to live in Japan and got firs hand news and swatch of new releases, who is also the originator of Majorlica Majorca craze in Taiwan; the cute girl with big eyes from “Tender is Night”, everything looked good on her; A Pei single eyelid girl with great eye makeup skills; Kathy, a pretty mom from Hong Kong; Ting who lived in Japan was well posted lots of new products.  The marketing PRs took notice of Wretch pretty early on and it was obvious the bloggers started to write for previews of new products.

 

I’ve never knew makeup/skincare brand did PR work with blogs and didn’t mind it at first because the articles were always marked clearly as PR works.  I don’t think there were any specific guidelines on PR posts at the time; it was more of unspoken blogger rule that they should state their article was PR work.  Or the articles were always distinctive even when they weren’t marked.  There are certain format that was used and the readers (at least I) always know it was PR writing.

Later Wretch just got over taken by these PR articles, the overall quality of the blogs lowered (either have bad writing or low quality pictures or useless/insincere swatches).  So I discovered more existing blog services blogbus (Mainland China), pixnet (Taiwan) and OnlyLady (Mainland China) was starting their blog service as well.  My very first subscriptions on these blogs were: Yuki who has similar eye shape and facial structure as I am and does great great swatches; Shockisgood her indication in eye makeup is unparallel. There were so many good Mainland China blogs, I particularly love 财宝，great pictures funny writing; Iker her everyday makeup is so lovely; there are couple of other ones from Onlylady but their blog site is down so I can’t find my links.

I feel the problems with Wretch blogs are mostly these: the bloggers are very young thus have very limited financial ability to purchase substantial amount of new products of their own; the florescence light used in household are awful for swatches; and the blogs are overwhelmed with insincere misleading PR works.  In comparison, English blogs and Mainland Chinese blogs are much more attractive that the bloggers actually hauling lots of goodies, it is weird but I take pleasure in looking at how much stuff other people buy. LOL.

Anyway, I only learned English blogs does PR works very recently, only couple of weeks before the new guideline announcement.  It was weird because I always thought English bloggers were…. better, and less tempted, but guess I was wrong.  Slightly disappointed that some of my favorite English language bloggers do write PR blogs, especially I have not noticed before!

Non Makeup Related Random Thoughts: travel

I’ve been traveling for leisure lately, and while it was fun to experience different hotels of different star rating through Priceline’s very awesome bidding system, I’ve realized how “otaku” I am through the very last trip. It was fun to stay at hotels for a night or so then drive home the next day.

But it got to me when I stayed for >2 nights: I hated the blankets, they’re not as soft and puffy as the ones at home; I hated the A/C it was on all the night and just sucked the humidity out of air; I hated the lack of availability of drinking water right out of tap; I missed my sofa, my rats, snacks out of my cabinets… But there was cable TV and I watched so much CSI, ATT and A&E play CSI nonstop. And the breakfast buffets were very yummy. And at the end of trip I finally figured out which hotel I liked better or not.


Still I am a control freak when it comes to my travel, everything has to be right or I’ll be annoyed. Not looking forward to the travel hassles of my China trip that’s coming up soon, can’t imagine how comfortable I’ll feel to taking air plane rides for >24hr, not having all of my skincare and mist sprays available, living at strange places with low humidity level and no humidifier, no readily available hot water for winter, having all these clothing restriction from my mom like I’m in middle school again. The only thing I look forward to is eating, lot of eating, lots of yummy Chinese food.

Shopping 2

Ohh did I mention I also got a similar hair dyring/styling product as the VS one posted earlier?

linky

Got it from Ulta cuz I figured I could always return it if it doesn't work out well.

Just from the pictures the VS ones looks better made and the smaller handle fit smaller Asian hands better. But the Conair one surprised me, the handle wasn't too bad, the hot air power is pretty good, I'll use it more often to write a formal review.

P.S. there's a 20% off coupon for Ulta right now.

shopping

Just a few lines on my personal life....

I have been so tired these day, tried to get up half of hour early in the morning to run but couldn't, even my super chilling eye drops don't wake me up anymore. Wanted to run after work but have to cook, clean, prepare stuff.

Been slacking off again, haven't done what I was suppose to do and literally throwing money in the water because my laziness.

Did lots of shopping these two days though, I haven't shop like this in a while!

Got some V&W red shoes on sale; absolutely gorgeous color I hope the head isn't too small

got my very first Dior palette in Night Butterfly (although having buyer's remorse because I just know it will take effort to make it look as good as Chic's swatches, and I am way too lazy and supposedly too busy to put any effort in it); click for Betsy's Review.

Got some cute dresses from the Anna Sui for Target collection, 2 sizes of the same dress, and the silk jumper. The silk jumper is sort of over-priced so I might not keep it, even if it's super cute ><



Lastly an Sasa order! It's been two years or maybe three since I ordered from them. The website has been doing great updating its inventory and brands, if only indexing is better. Anyway I got my usual share of Lifecella masks, and decided to brand out and try something new: Beatymate masks for less than $1 per piece, Catena 8-cups hydrating masks because I thought the name sounds interesting. Dr.Jart+ BB Cream in both the black tube (Premium have some anti-aging stuff for mature skin) and the blue tube (hydrating with Hyaluronic acid)

So finally gave in to the BB cream craze, partly because my Coffret D'or powder is down to the bottom, which lead to me needing some new foundation and especially for winter, which lead me to adambeauty...then realized the EX:BEAUTE foundation I 've eying for a while is $10 more than I remembered (did they raise prices?), and the Lunasol Skin Fusion Powder that I love so much is out of stock! Luckily there were a 20% Armani sale today, but all the light colorings are out-of-stock and free shipping is $50 after discount. Couldn't handle anymore disappointment I went to BGO and Sasa and made my purchase at Sasa.

I tried to do some research on BB cream on huaren and on blogbus but there are just so many different kinds. So I decided to screw this and find whatever's available and in-stock on Sasa and picked the ones with the most interesting description.

So it is a gamble....

I do hope the Sasa package is not going to take 3 weeks to get here. And I hope BB creams live up to their hype...usually making purchase before extensive research lead to bad results.

Routine August

Using up some samples and old stuff.

Evening:
RHOT toner w/ Shiseido international counter’s makeup buff – I found makeup buff works better than hands with Japanese brand toners.

Estee Lauder ANR DNA (sample size)– can’t feel much difference between the new ANR and the old ANR but then again I never really feel anything from ANR anyway. I still got a super big bottle of the old stuff left.

or Shiseido White Lucent essence (I had this sample for a year now! Really need to use it up) – the texture is too heavy for me in summers, and I’ not that keen on whitening so just used on my sunspots.

Suqqu eye cream (sample size) – no lifting effects but moist my skin well, not too heavy and has no obvious smell.

NYR Comfrey Cream – my newest HG night cream, it’s slightly too heavy for summer especially after Shiseido White Lucent Essence. It feels matt and keep oily skin balances, do calm any pimples-at-work and generally even out skintone. Korres’ yogurt night cream has similar matt feeling with lighter texture, but I’ve only used a sample size so can’t tell if it also even out skin tone.

Morning
(Supposedly use HADA*KA deep boost toner first but I’m out)
HADA*KA aqua charge yoner – liquidity
HADA*KA deep moisturizer – liquidity basically HADA*KA skin regime is layers and layers of very light very

Sometimes ANR DNA – I skip essence in the morning when putting on too many layers

Suqqu eye cream – same as above

Clinque first defense day cream for dry skin (the SA gave me the wrong one, I wanted super defense -_-;) – too oily, Clinique, and most U.S. brands are not good at making SPF day creams, the SPF is too low and the texture too oily.

Special Care:
ROHT eye drop vitamin c – read it somewhere you are supposed to use it within one month, it’s practically impossible but since the eye drop gives a cool and tangy feeling I use it in the morning to wake up my eyes.

Mask: homemade VC mask mixed either with RHOTO toner or Kabashi’s rose floral water & Facemate

NRY rose mask – slightly pink, creamy but not oily

Korres rose mask (sample size) – white and fluffy

Body: Korres body lotion, Facemate & Medical Ultrasonic gel for getting rid of blood vessel and fatty scars.

My brother-in-law is visiting these days so I haven’t got a chance to take bath, but otherwise I use Japanese bath powder from Mitsuwa. I really love the white kind; your body is so soft after using as if you were bathing in milk.

Reflection:
Not my best routine, I prefer to use products from the same line; because there are company around these days I haven’t been using mask as often as I should; also been staying up late and drinking coffee, as you can see from my next post my undereye bag is showing!

Makeup
Mac face primer SPF40 – my HG face primer
Mac Mixing Medium for eye – HG as well only available at pro stores now
Coffret D”or 09 Summer foundation with Everyday Mineral’s khababi brush
Mac Duo Accentual Sculpture
JS blush 02 Cherry something, just dig out Lunasol 08 xmax coffret EX blush
Coffret D’or gel liner in brown
Givenchy poetic brown
Jill Stuart eyelash curler
Max Factor 2000 calories

Reflection:
I’ll probably finish coffret d’or powder foundation by the end of the summer or early fall as planned, need to purchase another foundation for winter, maybe EX:BEAUTE?

Finally gave in the temptation and opened the coffret d’or eye gel so I am going to try to use it up and not hang it out to dry like my previous eye gels. 5555 opened lunasol’s liquid eye liner and that Mac Hello Kitty liner as well without using them more than twice. I would hate to waste those two beautiful colors.

Trying out different combination of the Givenchy Poetic Brown palette for swatch pic. And started using Shu’s eyelash curler today to prepare a comparison post on Shu/JS/Shiseido.
Really need to start buying MF mascaras as they go on sale since the WSJ said the brand is getting eliminated.

My goal is to control makeup spending purchase things that is the best value and most used. I want to use up all of my liners, mascaras and powders. Since one can never finish eye shadows and blushes I’ll try to be more selective and pick products that are truly unique (meaning limited edition-_-;)

Disclaimer/FAQ

Thought I should write some disclaimers before posting anymore swatches.

Skin tone: cool undertone, MAC NC20, dark brown hair and eyes, Asian descendent.

Really really oily eyelids and somewhat oily skin, eye primers are a must for me! Small and folded Asian crease. Bushy eyebrows.

Combo to oily skin a.k.a oily-but-dehydrated skin type. Large pores, some redness on cheek, couple of sunspots, acne and acne scars on the side of cheeks.

Skincare Concerns: acne scars and overall evenness of skin tone. Dragging of cheeks muscles due to aging and gravity. Sagginess of eye lids due to aging and near sidedness.

Do not like:
large glitters and fallouts for eye shadows, rarely like matt eye shadows, hate anything with frosty reflection may it be lipstick or nail polish. Warm toned eye palettes. Blushes that make me look like a farm girl (i.e. Nars Orgasm). Any makeup product without lasting power (most of the drugstore brand products).

heavy and oily-feeling cream, Retinol-A, silicone in skincare. Sticky toners in summer, over-priced skin-care products, and essential oils,

Like:
pre-made eye palettes! Especially Japanese ones they’re so convenient!
Beautiful sheen. Purple and neutral/pink combo.
lipstick/glosses without large glitter, just pure color
opaque nail polishes, Japanese nail polishes with glitters of different color and size
Jill Stuart blushes – I’m a big sucker for 4in1 blushes

Personal limitations (lack of technique preventing me from liking or using certain products):
dark eye shadows with beautiful glitters -> I could never get those colors show up!
don’t know how to use fake eyelashes
can’t handle liquid eyeliners with Chinese calligraphy brush heads
not very good with liners in general
mac mixing medium as primer is kind of like a glue, once you put color on, it’s on there, so my coloring are often badly blended, but at least it makes those shadow show up.
not good at describing stuff, in Chinese or in English, but I promise to practice.

Fair Use etc
All the words and pictures on the websites are my own unless otherwise stated. Please do not repost my photos anywhere else, just quote my blog link if you want to use it. Please don’t use my photos or words for any commercial use.

Most of the DM pictures are going to be from the official websites etc, the Japanese brands websites have a tendency to remove any old wallpaper, pic, etc so I save them here. It’s not for commercial use blah blah blah. I usually quote links from other blogs.

Do I make $$? Off of this
Not affiliated with any beauty product selling websites. Just have these ads on the side and the bottom of my blog, so far I’ve earned a whopping internet income of 50 cents from 5 ad clicks.

Cultural/Personal rants
Sometimes I’ll make some not so politically correct rants, don’t take them too personally, I’m a girl, and short tempered one, it’s just a heat of moment kind of thing, I’ll practically forget about it next morning.

Connection to Huaren
Currently the makeup board and the gaming moderator at huaren.us - the best forum for Chinese living in U.S. It’s the first Chinese language forum I got into and I absolute love that place and the girls in it. But the down side is I spend so much time on it that my English got really sucky these years.

I suppose as the board moderator my first and foremost responsibility is to write things on Huaren first. It is only for drafting purpose when I do write things here first, I found that my posts are much better constructed the 2nd or the 3rd time writing them. And a lot of times I have these bits and pieces of thoughts that’s not well organized and not worth posting on huaren, so I write them down here. Besides keeping a English blog will help me practice.

吵架

居然在华人上跟人抄起架来，平常都是事不理人的。。。嗯， 一不注意太有正义感年少气盛把混bbs的经验忘在脑后了。。。要淡定淡定。。。。。×打木鱼的小猴子×

反正谁愿意买是他们的事儿最后自己被骗也怪不了别人， 某人的rp在生活中该都丢没了吧，估计人人离的远远地。 又来攒人品？ 狗改不了吃屎，看看多久后会再来一出好戏